Saturday, July 19, 2014

Today's post is for the gemstone and metal blog hop hosted by Lisa Lodge. The gemstone I received is Picture Jasper and the metal is brass. I added very little from my own stash. Here is what I designed.

A two strand necklace, a bracelet and a pair of earrings. The drops wanted to be front and center so I made five dangles with the center one being longer. The drops are at the bottom followed by a brown glass bicone. Next I used a jasper faceted round, followed by another bicone. The top is a round brass spiral. I added the brown glass bicones from my stash to make the dangles stand out. The outside row is made with the larger Picture Jasper squares. Between the squares I used two of the brass bicones and some tiny titanium coated bronze/copper colored cubes. The Jasper squares are in sets of three with size 6 seed beads between them.There are five of the smaller Jasper squares in the center where the dangles hang. The inner strand mimics the outer by using the smaller Jasper squares again in sets of three with the seed beads between them. Between the sets are the same brass bicones and cubes used in the outer stands. This center of this strand has two of the larger squares flanking a brass scalloped round that I got from znetshows.com which I wire wrapped with the same brown glass bicone as the dangles. I used the rectangular brass toggle clasp to finish the necklace. The bracelet is made with the larger Jasper squares alternated with the faceted jasper rounds. There are brass bicones between each stone. I chose a Znetshows brass toggle for this piece. The earrings are made on a headpin with a titanium coated cube at the bottom. Then a faceted round Jasper and finally a round brass swirl. I hope that you like my jewelry set. Here is a link to Lisa Lodge's blog. http://www.gratefulartist.blogspot.com/ Below is a list of the participants. Please visit their blogs to see what everyone else made with the kits that they received

Saturday, July 5, 2014

I chose olive and black for my colors in the znetshows.com summer challenge called Day/Night. When I picked them I expected to use them together in my pieces but the beads had other ideas. I wanted my daytime piece to be summery and fun. Sea glass usually makes me think of the beach so that was where my design idea started. I used the olive sea glass with some aqua sea glass that I already had received from Znet. I wire wrapped links of the two colors using the olive rondelles and sand dollars with aqua shells. I added beach charms in blue and green to enhance the beach idea. I selected a lampworked bead with a fish on it as the focal. I put an aqua pearl on either side of it and used aqua sea glass teardrops to finish it. Above the lampworked bead is and aqua irregular shaped sea glass and an olive triangular round with an aqua pearly square for an accent. I used an olive sea glass fish on either side of the focal. A royal blue sea glass toggle finishes the necklace. My sister really liked it and she is now the owner of this necklace.

Night time calls for elegance. Black and gold feel classic and elegant to me. I was attracted to the black sea glass tubes right away. I used black crystal rondelles and gold 4mm bicones to accent the beautiful black sea glass. The center is a gold curved tube. Hanging from the tube is the focal which is a one of earring that came from my dear friend Judy who passed away earlier this year. I glued it to Lacy's stiff stuff and embroidered around it with gold seed beads. I found the toggle in a bargain basket a while back and it seemed to fit this necklace perfectly. I would wear this necklace proudly on an evening out. Please check out all the wonderful items that Zentshows has to offer at their link above also please go to znetshows.blogspot.com which will link you to the summer issue of Creative Spark magazine so you can see what other designers made for this challenge.

About Me

HI, My name is Becky. Beads began calling my name back in 2000. They bring me joy. When I have something else to do I can't wait to get it done so that I can get back to beading. When I look at beads I see what they can become. I want to share this joy with others. My greatest wish is that whoever is wearing one of my designs can feel some of the joy I feel in creating my jewelry. I am a member of the Upper Midwest Bead Society.